


After the Rocks

by Criminalmind1927



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Angst, Hand Jobs, Internalized Homophobia, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 10:55:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21493156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Criminalmind1927/pseuds/Criminalmind1927
Summary: @Arentiaclevergirl gave me this wonderful prompt:“what do you think was said at the rocks after the cameras were turned off?”———————For those of us who saw the Bleak Creek convos, we know that the doc that was shown on GMM differed slightly from what was shown during the live shows. Some scenes were added, some were missing. And there was one scene that really stuck with me that didn’t make it to the GMM edit.Link mentioned that he wanted to ask Rhett to turn down his basketball scholarship so they could go to film school together, but didn’t because “I was a teenage boy, I wasn’t gonna say that.”
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 35
Kudos: 98





	After the Rocks

Rhett pressed for the sixth floor. 

He was utterly drained, fighting hard to keep his eyes open. He scratched at what must’ve been four or five bug bites on his arm, the motion catching his eye in the elevator’s reflective walls. Rhett looked to his right and shook his head, before trying to finger comb his wild curls into submission. His fingers stilled as Link’s reflection came into focus. Rhett’s cheeks lifted into a smirk. What a pair they made. Both men looked dead on their feet. They were wet, dirty, bug-bitten, and sunburned from their all day trek around the creek. The filming for the documentary was finally over, the last day of shooting taking longer than expected, leaving both of them overworked and overly tired. 

But despite their dismal appearances, Rhett couldn’t stop his smile. This felt so familiar, so special. How many times had he seen Link like this? Sunbaked and exhausted from a day of bike riding and swimming… his heart clenched. 

Rhett cleared his throat, “That… that was a lot today.” Link’s head lay back against the elevator wall. 

His eyes drifted open as he responded, “Yeah, it was. Didn’t know how it would feel having everyone look into our past like this. Felt a little more… intimate than I realized.” 

The elevator dinged. The men walked towards their adjacent hotel rooms. 

“Yeah, uh… you surprised me a little today.” 

“What do you mean?” Link fished for his wallet, his eyes not on Rhett.

“In a good way. You were open and vulnerable about some stuff. I wasn’t expecting that, honestly.” 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right… but being back home with you… it’s just so… heavy? Just full of meaning and time and… love, I guess. Made me feel all mushy,” Link’s laugh was light, as he put his key card into the hotel room door. He turned to say good night, but he noticed Rhett staring, unmoving in the doorway. “You wanna come in for a bit?” he offered.

“Sure.” It was late and they both were in desperate need of a shower, but Rhett needed to get something off his chest. While they were still here. While they were still together. While they were still… _ home _.

Link flipped on the lights and headed into the small space. He walked towards his pile of possessions stacked neatly in the corner of the room and rifled through a few bags, clearly looking for something. Rhett trailed behind slowly, wringing his hands and clearing his throat. He looked to the bed and then to the sofa chair. 

_ Better to stink up the chair _… Rhett thought as he took a seat. Link continued to rifle through the bags until he found his prize. 

“Grabbed these at the gas station yesterday. They’re room temp, but...” He held up the Mellow Yellow sodas in offering. Rhett nodded and leaned over to grab for the fizzy drink. He cracked it open and took a few sips before setting it down on the desk beside him. Link flitted about the hotel room, humming to himself while folding clothes and packing a few things away for their flight tomorrow morning. 

Rhett watched him, his hands gripping the armchair hard, the tall man full of tension and unanswered questions. He grabbed for the soda again and took another big swig of the nostalgic beverage before forcing himself to ask Link, “You uh… you mentioned that you wanted to ask me to… to turn down my basketball scholarship and go to film school with you?” 

Link’s humming stopped and his smile faded, “Yeah. I did say that.”

“I never knew that,” Rhett nearly whispered. Link sighed and took off his glasses. He tossed the lenses on the bedside table and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands before he went back to packing.

“I never said it. Not out loud. Hell, Rhett, we were 16. I wasn’t gonna say… ‘Hey, forget your basketball dreams and go to film school with me’, ya know?” Link was folding and refolding the same sweater over and over. He stopped and looked down to the bed spread. “Your parents would’ve been so mad.” 

“Link…” Rhett searched for the words. “We’re not teenagers anymore.”

“I know.” He released a humorless laugh. “S’obvious.” He ran a hand absentmindedly through his graying hair. 

“So….” Rhett’s big green eyes were soft and pleading as he stood, “Ask me.” 

Link finally lifted his eyes from his suitcase, “Ask you what?” 

“What you wanted to…. back then. What we talked about this morning.” 

Link swallowed back the lump in his throat, his voice coming out rough, “S’a little late for that, brother. Like 20 years too late.”

“I would’ve said yes.” Link stopped breathing, he gripped his sweater against his chest and began to shake, his eyes falling to the pile of clothes. 

“Wha…” _ Just keep folding, Neal. _“Rhett…. No. I know you. You wanted to play ball, man.”

“I wanted you more.” Rhett voice cracked at the admission. Link’s eyes darted around before he forced them shut as his head dropped to his chest.

_ Fold. Just fold. _

He needlessly shook out his sweater and fought for calm breaths as he folded the cardigan for the fifth time, “Rhett…. god, why are you saying all of this right now?” He shoved the sweater into his carry on, effectively ruining his meticulous fold job. 

“I’m sorry, Link. I didn’t mean to spring it on ya. It’s just…. being back. It’s… it’s made me realize a lot of things.” Rhett took a steadying breath and advanced a few steps. “I love you, bo.” 

“I love you, too, but-”

“No. Link.” His voice was low and gravelly. “I _ love _ you.” 

“Oh Jesus.” Link’s blue eyes were awash with realization. He shook his head violently and began to remove everything from his suitcase, before shoving it back in, and then removing it again. “I can’t… Rhett…you can’t just...” Rhett stood and walked slowly towards the increasingly frantic man. When Link sensed the taller man in his periphery, his hands shot out and groped blindly for his anchor. Rhett grabbed his hands, pulling them free from the panicked packing, and held Link close as he burst into sobs, sucking in big breaths before wailing out his loud, messy emotional release. 

Rhett rocked him, stroked his hair and whispered comforting platitudes, “I’m here, baby. I’m here. It’s ok. I promise. It’s all ok.” 

“No… it’s…not!” Link took in gulps of oxygen in between every word. 

“Yes it is. Of course it is.” Rhett kissed the top of Link’s head. Rhett felt the head underneath him gasp softly. Rhett had kissed him before. When Link would have an incredibly intense panic attack, or when he would go through a messy break up, and quite a few times during the summer when his mom got divorced… Rhett would sometimes press his lips lightly to the top of Link’s head and whisper into the strands, ‘I got you, bo. It’s ok.’ 

The kisses they shared were few and far between over the decades and usually reserved for particularly intense emotional moments. This fit the bill. Link crumpled and clung to Rhett’s strong arms. The crying was getting weaker, but so was Link. 

His voice was breathy and strained, “Rhett… what do you mean you _ love _ me?” 

“You know what I mean, Link.”

“Rhett, why?” he whimpered.

“Why do I love you?” He felt Link’s head nod against his chest. Rhett chuckled softly, before becoming deadly serious. “Link. How could I not love you? I love everything about you. I love how much you make me laugh, I love how smart you are, I love how much you love your kids, I love how opinionated you are, I love how grumpy you get when things don’t go your way.” Rhett gave him a playful squeeze. “I love knowing everything about you, but still being surprised by you. I love… I just love you, Link.” He exhaled shakily, “I always have.” 

Link sniffled, but made a valiant attempt to stay quiet to hear what Rhett had to say. Rhett continued, “I’ve always felt this way. Always loved you. But I was... so god damn scared. Scared of what people would think, scared of what God would think, scared of what you would think if I ever told you…” Link’s deafening silence was starting to get to Rhett, he could feel his throat constricting with disappointment. 

Rhett sighed and kissed the top of Link’s head for the second time that evening, and perhaps for the last time ever. “It’s ok, bo. Nothing has to change. I just… I couldn’t hold it in anymore. You needed to know. I was too much of a coward to say it then, but… I’m better now. Because of you.” Rhett gave Link another squeeze before slowly releasing his comforting grip. Rhett was terrified to look into his friend’s eyes after laying his heart out like that. What would he see? Pity? Disgust? Confusion? Love?

The look he found was unexpected. Link’s crystal blue eyes were calm and almost expressionless. He swallowed and Rhett saw his goozle bob up and down- he looked as if he were trying to formulate words in a language he had never spoken before. 

“Link?” Rhett coaxed sofly, his arms gently holding Link’s broad shoulders steady. 

“Rhett…. you… you would’ve gone with me to film school if I asked?” A single tear escaped his dark lashes and ran down his cheek. 

Rhett’s large thumb wiped it away, and he held Link’s face and whispered, “I would’ve gone anywhere with you.” Link’s gaze dropped from Rhett’s sincere green eyes, his own reddened ones drifting closed. Link moved forward slowly and purposefully to press their lips together. Rhett gasped through his nose and froze for only a moment before slowly and gingerly wrapping his large arms around his best friend. Link’s hands rested on Rhett’s chest before snaking around his neck as they deepened the kiss. 

They smelled like the earthy woods of Buies Creek, their bodies warm with southern sunshine, their kiss salty with the tears of the past. Link hummed with the comfort and low thrum of intensity that the kiss incited. His lips parted ever so slightly and a timid tongue came out and licked into Rhett’s mouth. Rhett released a quiet, low moan and brought his tongue to meet Link’s. 

The sugary soda mixing in their mouths combined with the scents and sensations of their childhood was affecting Link in an incredibly visceral way, and he began to cry anew. Rhett pulled away and kissed all over Link’s face. 

“It’s ok, baby. It’s ok.” 

“I should've said it… I should've asked… I was such a coward, Rhett.” 

Rhett steadied Link’s face in his large hands and spoke firm, “Link. We’re here. We’re here now. It’s ok. I promise.” Link nodded and fell to his chest. 

“This is a lot to process in one day.” 

Rhett chortled, “Understatement of the year.” They stood in each other’s arms for a few moments, before Link spoke up. 

“I need to shower.”

Rhett nodded and released Link, “Yeah, me too. I can text you in the morning when you wake-“ 

“Rhett?” 

“What?” 

“Will you stay tonight?” Link’s voice wavered, lacking all confidence. 

Rhett gulped, “In here? With you?”

His voice was laced with determined hope, “Yeah. I wanna hold you. Please.” Rhett’s throat was dry and provided him with no words, so the tall man just nodded. “Ok, I’m gonna shower," Link supplied. Another nod from Rhett. He dug for his room key, clearly intending to head back to his room to do the same. He was interrupted by the question, “Is it weird if I ask you to shower with me?” 

——————

The men stopped talking. They didn’t need to speak. They slowly removed their dirty clothing, their naked bodies inhabiting a shared space as they had done many times before. But this time was different. It wasn’t platonic. It was intimate. It was the point of transition. 

The men walked wordlessly into the large shower together and scrubbed away the dirt and weight of the day. Taking turns scrubbing themselves and each other. They were both sporting obvious erections, but it felt natural to leave them be. The men were unhurried, much more keen to lavish the other’s body with nonsexual touch and comfort. 

Finally clean, they exited hand in hand and dried each other in tandem, deftly avoiding their protruding manhoods. They walked to the bed and slipped under the sheets, warm, naked and exposed in every way. They faced each other and cuddled close, their erections bumped and the mood began to shift.

Link closed his eyes and began to shift his hips forward, moaning softly. Rhett’s head dipped forward and he buried it into Link’s neck, his mouth open and exhaling warm air behind Link’s ear.

“Want you,” Rhett breathed. 

“I want you, too,” Link returned. He nuzzled his head into Rhett’s wet curls. Rhett’s warm hand reached for Link’s member, find it hot and dripping. 

“Fuck,” Rhett slurred as he began to pump Link with a steady hand. Link whimpered and his hand began to search for Rhett. Link’s palm was soon returning the favor. 

“So thick…” Link mumbled. Rhett groaned and sped up his hand. “So big, baby….”

“Wanted this for so long, I want you so much.” 

“You have me. I’m here. Please, Rhett.” Rhett began to bite and suck at Link’s neck, which caused the smaller man’s hips to twist and thrust forward. Rhett’s hands trailed up Link’s chest and he started to roll and pinch Link’s nipple as he stroked, Link groaned and thrust his chest into the rough touch. “Fuck… I’m not gonna last long.” Link squeezed Rhett and moved his right wrist faster, his left hand now gently rolling Rhett’s balls. 

“Me either. Gonna cum…. oh god, I love you. I love you so much.” 

“Rhett!” Link came first with a shout, his release spurting onto his fast moving wrist, triggering Rhett’s even messier orgasm. They pumped and whined through their shared release, whispering words of love and moaning their satisfaction.

They lay panting, hands on each other’s softening members, smiles of astonishment coloring their faces. Rhett moved first. He leaned forward and kissed Link with a loud hum and a messy smack. 

He spoke inches from their locked lips, “I love you so much, Link. So much it makes me crazy.” 

“I love you Rhett, I can’t even tell you how much.” They kissed languidly for a few more minutes, until the stickiness on their stomachs started to itch.

“Damn we just showered, too.” Rhett giggled. 

“We could shower again? In your room? We kinda ruined these sheets anyway.” Link kissed around Rhett’s beard and asked, “That ok? Can we go to your room?”

Rhett nipped at Link’s chin and he smiled. Rhett pet Link’s face, “I said I would go with you anywhere, didn’t I?” 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are my drug. ❤️❤️
> 
> Tumblr is @criminalmind1927  
Come say hi!


End file.
